Cigars consist of a filler tobacco, rolled within binder tobacco, and then rolled within wrapper tobacco. The filler is often scraps or pieces of flavorful tobacco. Larger leaves of low aesthetic quality and flavor are generally used for binders to tightly contain and compact the filler. Leaves of highest aesthetic quality are typically used for the wrapper, to provide a smooth and consistent outer surface that is attractive to the smoker and comforting to the lips.
Cigars also consist of a barrel, a head, and a foot. The barrel is the long tubular body portion. The foot it the end which is burned during smoking. The head is the tip of the cigar which the consumer places in his mouth during smoking. Cigars are sold with their heads in a “closed” state, that is, the binder and wrapper cover the head completely to retain the compacted filler and provide a neat and tapered tip. Cigars are occasionally also sold with their feet closed for the same reason.
Additionally, binders and wrappers help to keep fresh the filler tobacco, so cigars that are sold with their heads and feet closed tend to remain fresh longer.
Another reason that cigars are sold with their heads closed is that cigar smokers generally prefer to open the heads themselves, according to their smoking preferences and comfort. If the opening size is larger, more flow will result, which will result in more flavor, but will also cause the cigar to burn faster and hotter. A smaller opening will cause the cigar to burn slower and cooler, but will provide a milder flavor.
Implements for opening the heads of cigars come in two main types, cutters and punches. Punches are tubular cutting tools that create a longitudinal hole into the head. The size of the hole is always the same as the size of the punch. Since a punch is unable to cause variously sized openings, the smoker is unable to customize the opening according to his smoking preference.
Cutters, on the other hand, typically consist of one or two sharp blades that traverse and slice through the head to remove the head tip and create an opening of a size according to the slice's distance up the barrel. If the head is sliced further up the barrel, the opening size will be larger. A head that is sliced closer to the tip will have a smaller opening. The smoker is able to customize the size of the opening according to his smoking preference according to the distance up the barrel that he makes the slice.
Cutters which have a large enough opening may also be used to open the feet of cigars that are sold with their feet closed or to trim back previously partially smoked cigars.
A traditional disadvantage of cutters versus punches has been the inability of cutters to create a clean and well-defined cut that does not damage the constitution of the cigar. Especially as their blades become less sharp, cutters tend to crush the cigar and loosen the compacted filler within adjacent to the cut. Such loosened filler will not only alter the flow characteristics of the cigar, but will then tend to fall from the head through the opening as the cigar is being smoked, sending undesirable flakes of filler into the smoker's mouth.
Such problems are typically caused by either a single-bladed cutter whose blade is dull and therefore crushes the head tip as it is forced through the cigar, a dual-bladed cutter whose blades are dull and therefore crush the head tip as they are forced through the cigar, or a dual-bladed cutter whose blades are not properly aligned. For clean and quality slicing by a dual-blade cutter, it is critical the blades must remain sharp, and must cooperate to traverse the head from opposite sides along a precise slicing plane. Blades whose cutting edges are not kept sharp and/or that are not perfectly coplanar will abuse the head and destroy the constitution of the filler within. But dual blade cutters have heretofore failed in their ability to remain sharp or to cooperate along a precise slicing plane.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a dual-bladed cigar cutting device whose blades are automatically self-sharpening during use.
It is another object of the invention to provide a dual-bladed cigar cutting device whose blades cooperate to maintain a precise slicing plane.
It is another object of the invention to provide a dual-bladed cigar cutting device whose blades are biased to move only along the slicing plane.
It is another object of the invention to provide a dual-bladed cigar cutting device whose blades are biased against each other during slicing along the slicing plane.
It is another object of the invention to provide a dual-bladed cigar cutting device which has a compact and safe storage condition in which the blade edges are protected and unexposed.
It is another object of the invention to provide a cigar cutting device which automatically locks into its compact and safe storage condition at the completion of a cut.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in view of the following disclosure of an exemplary embodiment thereof.